Wisdom – Page 6 – UAS MAT Program ~ 2016 Cohort

Voices of Wisdom

The voices of elders are, for lack of a better word, impactful. I think the most stunning and enthralling trait that Salina Everson, David Katzeek, and Linda Belarde brought to our 680 classroom was the weight and impact of words. Their words send waves of meaning and emotion – the depth of their voices speak so much to their experiences.

Each talked about the value of the Tlingit language to their identity and their upbringing – each had a different experience, and each shared beautiful stories of how that changed their lives. Their challenges of having or discovering their cultural identity – something challenged by the schooling they received – is what made those words strong.

I feel an important part of this experience is how tender humans are when it comes to culture and identity. The words we say and write make

an impact which can shape lives. We often identify a person who said something to us that made us who we are. We regularly quote a few words, an aphorism, or a sentence to embody elaborate ideas.

Wisdom of our elders, what I learned

Hearing the three guests talked was extremely interesting and I found it incredibly informative and moving. The part that resonated with me was something they all talked about, which was them not being able to use their own language. You could tell as they spoke, that they were all deeply hurt by it and as if they felt an enourmous disconnect between them and their culture. Language is incredibly important to feeling part of a culture, and if it is taken away from you, and if you are told not to use it, then it can create a bit of a disconnect. I cannot imagine what it would feel like if when grown up, I was unable to speak English because it was banned. This was incredible to hear and is something that I would not want to see happen to anyone.

I also felt as though the love that is within the community, and the respect that they have for one another is something that I definitely want to implement in my classroom. Every teacher wants all of their students to respect each other, and that is something that I will try to achieve. The care that they all showed too is something that I want to show my students because I believe the respect will follow that. Overall this was an incredibly moving talk and I feel lucky to have been able to participate and listen to it.

Education, values, and knowledge from Tlingit Elders.

All of the knowledge that has been shared with us from Elders David Katzeek, Linda Belarde, and Selina Everson, has been a real privilege to hear. It is wonderful getting to listen to such a vast amount and variety of tid-bits, life experiences, and tips that they have gained over their lifetimes.

The thing that really stuck out to me (the “nugget” of information) was that Linda really touched on things that we’re currently discussing in our class. Things like relating to the students. Developing a personal relationship with them or “love” them as Linda said. This way of thinking is really important because sometimes the importance of developing those deep relationships isn’t stressed enough. Sometimes (especially in smaller villages) when a student doesn’t have the greatest home life, the teacher is their number one advocate for support. Without that close relationship, there is the potential to really dull the student’s drive to attach with you.

This becomes directly applicable in the classroom when we think about the meaningfulness of the relationships that we’re developing with our students. The more the students can trust us, the more that they can open up to us. This connection will likely make them more attached to learning.

Gunalchéesh

Joe